"DHEMSA” an Effective Tool for People Centered Advocacy

All over the world, India is known for its rich cultures and traditions. In this connation the unique traditions and costumes of the tribal make them different from the other communities. Here ChildFund India, Malkangiri Area Programme adopted the people centered advocacy (Street Plays) Strategy to generate awareness among these indigenous community on Adverse Impact of Early Marriage within its operational areas. The traditional Folk dance (Dhemsa) was used to ensure participation of the community members in the programme.

 Malkangiri is a tribal dominated district of Odisha. In order to improve the Child development ratio of the area, ChildFund India comes forward with different programmes and projects to complement and supplement the govt. counterpart. An internal survey was conducted to know the reasons of maternal and infant deaths of the region and it was found that early marriage is one of the important factors which have a significant contribution towards this. Hence in order to reduce the IMR & MMR induced by early marriage, People centered advocacy campaign through street plays were organized in more than 30 villages within its operational area.

If we will start with a show with the local folk dances no double it will gather a huge crowd which not only includes the children, but also the adult members of the community including the females. Again delivery of message in colloquial languages not only motivates them to participate in the programme but also develop a sense of ownership over it.

It was observed that a crowed of more than 90-100, gathered during the shows and actively observed it, internalize the messages and also delivered it during the question answer session. Again I would like to share peoples belonging to different age group participated during this hence I think it will certainly increase the no.of beneficiaries through peer education and also reduced the conflict among the 2 different age groups with proper knowledge and communication.

Acceptance through active involvement

Adolescent girls of the community with the folk team

Message on impact of early marriage though street plays

Barter System, An Anti-Developmental Strategy

Rupee, the Indian currency progressively increasing its value in the international market and is one of the important indicator of economic growth of a developing country like India. It is also universally accepted as the medium of exchange for any kind of transaction in India.

In the 21st century when people are using Mobile Banking, Internet Banking facilities as the mode of transaction for purchase & sale’s of goods and commodities, the existence of ancient method of exchange i.e the barter system put a big question mark towards the development itself.

It was Analaguda Village of Nayakguda Panchayat of Malkangiri (One of the most under developed and left wing extremism affected)  district which is 45 kms away from the District headquarter and near about 25 Kms away from the its block headquarter Mathili. The village is covered by a range of forests. We are not able see a single shop with all the required commodities which is needed for day-to-day life. Hence the people are mainly depends upon the cycle vendors for these essential commodities.

Again the govt. has also focused on tribal development with various development programmes and projects which also includes proper pricing for collected MFP/NTFP. But due to some ethnic barriers these are not implemented properly which enforces the tribal people to exchange the collected NTFPs (Mahul) to purchase household commodities from these cycle vendors. Such methods of exchange not only exploit these innocent people but also resulted in change in behavior towards money led transactions. Now-a-days we can rarely found such type activities in other parts of our country. I think these are the thing which appears very small to the necked eyes but seriously affects the growth and development of the community.

A kid with Mahul (NTFP) in a container to purchase snacks  

An women exchange Mahul(MFP) for wearing bangles